


Something Better than a Trophy

by ParalianPoet



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Asexual Character, Fluff, Football | Soccer, M/M, Peep the asexual reference, Soccer AU, Tattooed Johan, World Cup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParalianPoet/pseuds/ParalianPoet
Summary: In a universe without their lives being thrown into other dimensions, Judai and Johan deal with their respective teams getting eliminated from the World Cup. Turns out their are still things they can celebrate even without a trophy in hand.





	Something Better than a Trophy

Johan Andersen and Judai Yuki settled into the couch which adorned their hotel room. They sat across from a flat screen that played news quietly in the background. Johan threw his tattooed arm around Judai and Judai leaned his head on the former's shoulder. 

Judai admired the ivory and gold scale design which was only interrupted by seven different looking spheres which made up the colours of the rainbow. The tattoo took up most of the skin on Johan's arm and had taken several sessions to complete, but it was worth the pain to Johan. Judai had come with him to each appointment to hold his hand to get him through the intensity of getting a full sleeve. Somewhere along the line, Judai obtained an Ace of Diamonds tattoo along with a decent sized winged Kuriboh on his upper right arm. 

It had been a long day on the pitch and the endless media commitments the two had been forced to do after their respective countries were eliminated from the World Cup. Neither were used to losing a title. In club football, their team represented Domino City and were lauded as heroes for consistently winning championships local and abroad. 

Turned out neither could carry their country teams past the round of 16. Even Japan which had the legendary Yugi Mutou, Seto Kaiba, and Jounouchi Katsuya playing with Judai, wasn't enough against the giants of football. Although Judai had serious suspicions that the referee from the Norway-Belgium match was corrupt.

"Judai, I think they're running a spot about us." Johan mentioned, turning up the volume on the TV with a remote.

"Football fans around the world were shocked to see Japan and Norway knocked out of the World Cup today before the semi finals. Each game went into extra time and penalty kicks, but both underdog countries failed in their quests. But don’t feel too bad for the teams, we’re sure their respective stars will be back in the next couple of World Cups, ready to take the cup. They, of course, are Johan Andersen and  Judai Yuki who are frequently described as the next generation of football greats. 

Both players are 20 and play for the city of Domino’s club and are heroes for bringing their team into the international spotlight after winning the country’s league. Andersen and Yuki function as forwards and wingers on their team and share an outstanding record of goals and assists. Their opponents seem to be hopeless when confronted with these two gems who work in tandem with their teammates to achieve clean sheet after clean sheet. It’s no secret that one of the reasons they get along so well on the pitch, is their close relationship off the pitch. The two swiftly became friends after Andersen’s transfer to Domino City more than two years ago. Between social media posts and interviews, no one could doubt that these two were destined to be best friends. The world wasn’t surprised when the two announced their romantic relationship publicly six months into Andersen’s transfer in conjunction with his permanent contract signing.

With the two, most likely, passed their second year anniversary and fans are wondering when we’ll hear those wedding bells? Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too much longer for good news. Now let’s play back some highlights of Norway’s last match starting with that incredible rainbow flick Andersen pulled off-” 

“I didn’t realise we were watching the entertainment channel,” Judai joked, referring to the sportscaster’s focus on their personal life instead of the World Cup.

“Neither did I."

"They better talk about that dumb referee you had and those awful sideline judges from my match."

"Judai, complaining isn't going to change the result. FIFA won't go back and reverse decisions."

"Come on, we'd just be having fun and then the sideline judges would call offsides. For both teams too!" 

Johan sighed and pressed a kiss to Judai's temple, "there's always the next world cup!"

Judai pouted for a beat as the TV show played one of the aforementioned moments. 80 minutes in to a scoreless game with a threat of an extra 30 minutes in the future along with a penalty shootout. Japan had plenty of pressure on them to score against England. Judai had been in a full sprint to receive a pass from Yugi. He'd been sure to keep in line with the defender closest to the goal to avoid getting called offsides. After he'd received the ball, Judai threaded the needle perfectly to score a goal. The goalkeeper was watching him instead of the ball and had dove the other way.

The entire team had celebrated before a line judge ruined it and called offsides which negated the goal. Even the English team thought the call was wrong. In the end, the penalty shootout went to England and Japan was eliminated wrongly. 

"See this is what I mean! We got cheated! I don't mind losing a fair game, but Yugi and I won that game."

"Jeez I hadn't seen the full tape of that play yet. How did that judge even get cleared?"

"Yes! Our first world cup and I get a blind line judge and you get a bribed referee. This isn't what I had planned," Judai slumped into Johan's arms, his own wrapping around Johan's waist.

"Me either. I wish at least one of us made it to the final..."

Judai's eyes trained on the screen as they lapsed into a comfortable silence. He couldn't help but wonder what they were going to do for the next few weeks. Ideally they would've had time devoted to practising and training in hopes of one of them winning. They both talked about wanting their countries to be in the final. They wanted to see who was the best. Plus, they'd have a blast playing against each other because neither would hold back. 

Afterwards, Judai wanted to use either of their World Cup victories an extra special moment. A moment he had zero clue on when to do it now…

Do it now?

Judai's heart raced at the thought. How would he even bring it up? Did he try and do some kind of lead up? Did he just come right out and say it? 

Either way he'd need to get that ring hidden in his luggage. 

"Stay here for a second," Judai prompted, standing up abruptly. 

"Uh okay, but what are you doing?"

"You'll see!"

Judai was only gone for thirty seconds. He didn't know last time he kept track of something so intensely since he was a kid playing card games. It was in a little blue velvet bag which he quickly pocketed.

Coming back to their couch, Judai wondered whether to kneel or sit back next to Johan. The whole while Johan was staring at him.

"Judai what are you doing?" Johan said with a confused smile.

Judai grinned back at Johan before reclaiming the space next to his boyfriend. He liked that it was just them in this moment. 

"You know I love you, right? If you need me to go to hell and back I would in a heartbeat. You mean the world to me even more than the beautiful game."

Johan laughed, "right back at you, I love you. I'd do anything for you." 

Judai couldn't help it, he had to sneak a kiss before he continued, "Good! I've been thinking about us a lot and I wanted to do this whole thing later, but I think we both need some happiness after the day we've had. You don't have to give me an answer right away, but I thought," he paused and took out the bag, "we've been through a lot, good and bad. I don't care if in the future we encounter more bad than good and I definitely don't mind if we have more good and great times. Whatever we do I want to do it together-"

Judai took out the ring, a single band made of white opal that caught the light to create a rainbow effect. Turning it in his hands and taking a deep breath, he asked formally, "will you marry me, Johan?" 

Johan's hands covered his surprised gasp and Judai was sure it was the longest moment of his life despite it being only seconds before Johan's response. Johan surged forward and bear hugged Judai, peppering Judai's face with kisses. The force knocked Judai back into the couch, knocking the ring out of his hands onto the floor below.

"That's a yes?" Judai asked, unable to keep the smile off his face. He figured Johan would say yes, but he couldn't read minds so it was good to check. Plus, he wanted to hear Johan say it.

"That's a definite yes," Johan confirmed with a sweet, meaningful kiss. 

Judai pulled away a bit and moved a hand to cradle Johan's face while he admired the emerald eyes staring into his own. They really did seem to twinkle and shine just like the gemstone, it took Judai's breath away no matter how many times he saw them. The fact that Johan looked at him like that made Judai feel so special.

"I can't wait to marry you," Judai thought out loud. 

"The feeling is mutual."

The two stared at each other for a few more moments taking it in before they descended into a fit of giggles. They couldn't believe it had even taken this long to get engaged. They already had been planning to move into a house together after the world cup. They talked in teams of forever, even so much as planning contingencies if either got transferred far away.

"Oh!" Judai remembered the ring and leaned over the edge of the couch to retrieve it, "make sure it fits. If not I'll get it re-sized."

Judai slipped the ring on Johan's ring finger. After a couple of gestures, Johan smiled at Judai, "it's a perfect fit. Although I kind of want to get you a ring too."

"Yeah? Would you want to look for one together?"

"No I think I'll surprise you with it."

Judai beamed at the idea of that surprise and stole another kiss from Johan before interlacing their fingers, "I wish we could wear rings on the pitch. I won't want to take it off, especially once we're married."

Humming in contemplation, Johan brought up their hands so he could kiss one of Judai's knuckles. 

"We could always get rings tattooed?" Johan suggested.

Judai's face lit up at the idea as he went in to exchange a long set of kisses to his fiancé, both forgetting their losses in favour of celebrating their relationship and their future.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated birthday, Judai!! 
> 
> This fic has been such a long time coming. I started writing it during last years world cup when I dream up this whole YGO World Cup AU (I even made art for it oops). Thank you Rubi for listening to all my rantings and reading this fic in its various stages <3 
> 
> If you're wondering about the ring, it's a real ring you can find on Etsy that I'm happy to send you all a link to.


End file.
